Cheap Murray Perahia Plays Bach (Music) (Johann Sebastian Bach, Murray Perahia, Jakob Lindberg, Jaime Martin, Kenneth Sillito) Price

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Customer Reviews of Murray Perahia Plays Bach

Beautiful if nonstandard rendition of Bach
The centerpiece of this CD is Perahia's performance of the Fifth Brandenburg. Perahia bites into it like what it is--the first piano concerto. True, he doesn't play it on a harpsichord and disregards almost everything the past 20 years or so of musical scholarship have told us about period performance. On the other hand, Beethoven, Chopin, and the rest of the 19th century composers played Bach with their own hands, and they probably played him like this. The result wasn't the exact sound Bach had in mind when he put pen to paper, but it was the sound that inspired the great keyboard literature of that century. To listen to Perahia play this is to hear the granddaddy of piano concertos anew. Anyone who loves Bach already has a couple Brandenburg recordings; this is a nice compliment to them. Anyone who loves 19th century piano music deserves a taste of this, too. Then Perahia throws in the triple concerto, which just doesn't get recorded enough, and the Italian concerto, which any Bach lover is going to already know well. Sound quality and engineering are impeccable.

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A dazzling performance.
Bravissimo! Perahia's dazzling performance culminates in the cadenza in the first movement of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. This superb recording stands in stark contrast with the boring antiquarian stuff of the "historically informed" performance fad that may have prevented an entire generation of music fans from enjoying an important pianistic tradition connected with this concerto. I do not know of any recording of this concerto played on a modern piano since the legendary mono recording by Edwin Fischer made in the 1950s. The Triple Concerto and the Italian Concerto also give splendid testimony of exquisitely shaded modern piano performances. Highly recommended.

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The emperor's new clothes...
There was a time when people still bothered to argue about the interpretation of early music. About instruments, tempi and character. Today, there is really no need anymore. The record market is flooded with cds of period instrument performances. There is hardly a label that would release a recording of for example a piece by Bach, Handel or even Mozart with a "modern" ensemble or orchestra. So, here we have something unique. Perahia has recorded quite a bit of Bach by now and I have been thinking that it still is nice with some contrasts in the classical cd catalogue. Though, after listening to this cd of concertos and the Italian concerto I was very dissapointed. Listening to this disc I feel embaressed. The 5th Brandenburg concerto is played in a way that is almost funny and amusing in a pathetic way. This is how the chamber orchestras played in the 50s!
The fact that the "emperor's new clothes" effect has made the critics hail Perahia for his Bach recordings is no excuse for putting out something as disturbing as this. The tempi, the sound and the character of each movement is just so wrong. OK, it is personal what you like but let's face it: the old stubborn tradition of playing this music in this manner can be compared to a sinking ship. Some people are still desperately hanging on to it. Still ignoring the true colours and intentions of past masters. Perahia is a wonderful pianist but he should stick to Schubert, Chopin and the repertoire that he can handle.